Hutchel
Registered
Well I bought one before I read everything on this board - oh well.
I took it to Cancun a couple of weeks ago. It takes decent pictures. I would rate myself as a serious hobbiest - I still like a real 35 MM SLR (I have several lenses and leave my camera on MANUAL) I do not make a living selling my pics though.
The battery life was a HUGE dissappointment. There is a battery indicator but it goes from full to low battery in a couple of pics - i.e. after I've been using the camera for an hour or so. I expected something that would provide some sort of linear decay on the indicator.
BTW the battery is not dummy proof. MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT IN RIGHT - I.E. turn the camera on BEFORE GETTING IN THE WATER!!!!! that wreck was really neat - too bad I didn't try the camera before starting the dive!
Definately get the external strobe. The internal flash did OK for near objects in decent lighting conditions. We did the CENOTES (cavern diving) the last day of diving. The pics were very dissappointing.
Latency. I am too used to instant results with my 35MM. Even in "shark mode" I have more than a few pics that the fish is swiming towards me than what I set up to take the picture. The lag is HORRIBLE.
Memory/ freeze ups. I used a 1 GB card (ultra) and had no problems. Came home with about 300 pics (8 dives - 6 with the camera on - battery issues on the other 2) that I shot at 5 mPix with fine (medium setting) - that's 1.2 mb per pic if you are keeping track. Still had over 500 Mb on the card free.
Final thought - I used this camera to replace an old CruiseCam (I think it was a vivitar) - 35 MM. I hate to say this but the pics are comperable - other than the DS500 is digital - limited by memory vs film and will go deeper.
Given the other comments, I probably would have opted for the Cannon.
For those that care the pics (good and bad) can be seen at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hutchinsel/album?.dir=/71d3re2&.src=ph&.tok=phQGANFBT6kPVoum
Lee
I took it to Cancun a couple of weeks ago. It takes decent pictures. I would rate myself as a serious hobbiest - I still like a real 35 MM SLR (I have several lenses and leave my camera on MANUAL) I do not make a living selling my pics though.
The battery life was a HUGE dissappointment. There is a battery indicator but it goes from full to low battery in a couple of pics - i.e. after I've been using the camera for an hour or so. I expected something that would provide some sort of linear decay on the indicator.
BTW the battery is not dummy proof. MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT IN RIGHT - I.E. turn the camera on BEFORE GETTING IN THE WATER!!!!! that wreck was really neat - too bad I didn't try the camera before starting the dive!
Definately get the external strobe. The internal flash did OK for near objects in decent lighting conditions. We did the CENOTES (cavern diving) the last day of diving. The pics were very dissappointing.
Latency. I am too used to instant results with my 35MM. Even in "shark mode" I have more than a few pics that the fish is swiming towards me than what I set up to take the picture. The lag is HORRIBLE.
Memory/ freeze ups. I used a 1 GB card (ultra) and had no problems. Came home with about 300 pics (8 dives - 6 with the camera on - battery issues on the other 2) that I shot at 5 mPix with fine (medium setting) - that's 1.2 mb per pic if you are keeping track. Still had over 500 Mb on the card free.
Final thought - I used this camera to replace an old CruiseCam (I think it was a vivitar) - 35 MM. I hate to say this but the pics are comperable - other than the DS500 is digital - limited by memory vs film and will go deeper.
Given the other comments, I probably would have opted for the Cannon.
For those that care the pics (good and bad) can be seen at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hutchinsel/album?.dir=/71d3re2&.src=ph&.tok=phQGANFBT6kPVoum
Lee